Best Insulin Pump for Kids

Dear All,
Thanks for all your inputs and help so far with my queries. My 10 years old son is recently diagnosed and I am going through various questions in my mind.
Next week i have an appointment with my endo and i am going to discuss Insulin pump options. My son had done his research on internet and want to go for only Omnipod because it’s tubeless and he is attracted to it because that’ll give him more freedom while playing etc. Being tubeless is great advantage but are there any other positive sides to other pumps which I should consider and are there any negative sides to Omnipod that I should be aware of?
i am not worried about financials as i want him to get the best thing that’ll keep him happy.

Thanks for your help in advance.

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@abhijitekre the best advice I can offer, not knowing your son, his body size, HIS diabetes other than he has only recently been diagnosed, Abhijit is to go with the advice of your son’s doctor / medical care team. Don’t be surprised or upset if his doctor will NOT prescribe a pump for him at this time; a pump is not the “best solution” for all persons with diabetes.

Beyond that, I have not yet used an OmniPod so I can’t offer pros or cons on that device; I have used a few different model MiniMed [often called Medtronic] and currently use a Tandem t-Slim. All those pumps perform good and do what they are designed for except the CGM sensors designated to work with the MiniMed pumps did NOT work up to design specifications. The newer MiniMed pumps and associated sensors are working better together but can be extremely frustrating and added burden; they are also rather large to wear. The Tandem I am wearing now is about the smallest pump available, very easy to read and has given me outstanding results.

If you are looking to currently or eventually move your son to an approved “closed loop” system, the Tandem t-Slim x2 [it combines with Dexcom CGM] would be my recommendation - it has provided me with very high Time-In-Range and my only interface has been to enter carb count for foods eaten.

If you will wait, Insulet hopes to get approval and launch a new closed loop system. Keep watching for that - “hoped for” date is sometime in 2020; there are also other devices that will be available in the not-to-distant.

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hi @abhijitekre, I agree with @Dennis but even though financials are not a problem, a check with your insurance company should also be in order, A conventional pump could be $7,000 with no insurance, with $200 per month in supplies. An omnipod PDM is $800 and each POD is probably $30, so it’s a monthly cost of $300 (every month)

there aren’t any trap doors with pumps, pumps require more interaction, cause more scarring, and a pumper is a little more prone to DKA than a person on MDI. no matter what “they” say, the rest of the collective “pumps” are essentially the same, picking the one you like is the biggest challenge.

the medtronic and tandem solutions offer full feedback, so if a CGM is something you are considering, these 2 manufacturers offer that “advantage”. Selecting a pump may be ~3 year commitment (via insurance), but after that you can pick a new one, and he’ll have diabetes longer than this decision will limit him. picking a pod first is probably the least financially restricting.

make the manufacturers come to you and demonstrate these devices. make them work for a living. Make them work with your insurance and prepare first and ongoing cost analyses. make a doctor that says “oh this one is better” or, if it happens, refuses to consider a pump at all… demonstrate WHY. This team works for you. Your son is the most important team member. Team members that are not behaving or playing well or performing well, can and must be fired and replaced.

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I have the Medtronic 670. The one aspect of it that would be a con and would stop me from conaidering it is the not connecting to your cellphone so that you get alerts when your son’s sugar is high or low. Check out the Juicebox podcast Scott, the guy who produces it, his daughter is T1D and she has the Onmipod pump and Dexcom sensor. He is able to check in with her at any time. As a parent that would definitely give me more piece of mind. Hope this helps. I don’t know about the other pumps.

My now 11 year old son choose to go with the OmniPod last year due to it being tubeless. We are now using the OmniPod Dash and we can view his pod data on our phones, so we can see things like IOB, basal rates, and insulin delivery and BG history.

John my 10yr old also uses the dash, but what app do you use to see that info on your phone??? Also do you have apple or android, last are you actually from Buffalo N.Y?

He carries an iPhone SE with him so we use the Dash follow app which is similar to the Dexcom follow app we use as well.

My very sporty son uses tandem tslim. The tubes are no problem at all. It’s such a great pump!

Hi, My first question is does he have a CGM? My son, 20, was diagnosed about a year and a half ago. He went on a CGM (Dexcom G6- LOVE IT) first. Then he waited about 6 months and is on the Omnipod - loves that too. So your first step in my opinion is to get the CGM first then the pump. He didn’t want any tubes either. But one thing we didn’t realize is that you have to put I think 80 units in it and you have to change the pod every three days. He uses very little insulin (like a total of 6 units a day) so there was a ton of wasted insulin. While the cost wasn’t an issue he felt guilty wasting insulin when so many people can’t afford it at all. So what he does (with endo’s approval), is that when he changes pumps, he takes what’s left in one pump and transfers it to the next (all via syringes). It’s a bit tedious but it’s perfectly fine and he feels good with it emotionally). That’s my two cents. I wish your son and your family good thoughts and it does get better!!

Thanks Dennis and Joe for your inputs.

Thanks Elaine for your inputs. we got CGM this week and doc advised us to wait for few weeks to get Omnipod.

hello im Peter nice to meet you !!!

We choose Omnipod because it was tubeless and smaller than tubed pumps. Even though the tandem had better reviews. My daughter is small and the Omnipod with dexcom makes her feel more normal considering.

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